Expensive parts that you never used.

[Surface Rust]

On 01/12/2025 at 07:07, comfortablynumb said:

Oh and I've still got a metric fucktonne of Yugo and zastava parts, NOS, which came to me as part of a job lot.

I've never owned one, not am I likely to.

(Now watch one show up before the end of the week...😁)

@IronStar FYI

[IronStar]

5 minutes ago, Surface Rust said:

@IronStar FYI

Thanks, I think we're way too far to be worth it, unless @comfortablynumb has something really exciting (for me) UK-only bits.

@brownnova and @2110 may be interested, as UK-based Yugo botherers, or some of the lovely chaps that own remaining UK Sanas I've met

[UltraWomble]

3 hours ago, grogee said:

This could be a separate thread - bits you bought twice because you lost them but found them after you'd paid for a replacement 

Not with car parts but I have done this consistently with tools over the years.
Best one was an electric drill which I "lost"

After replacing it, I eventually found it in the loft of all places.
FMAL.

[sutty2006]

5 hours ago, grogee said:

This could be a separate thread - bits you bought twice because you lost them but found them after you'd paid for a replacement 

I had something I bought 3 of at some point, but I can’t remember what it was. Probably have 4 of them by this time next year. 🤣 

[Paul Makin]

oh dear. 

I have beaten my hoarding habit now but back then I was bad.

How about a LWB Pajero packed front to back with Charade GTti parts ?  With the roof mounted wheel/tyre rack. And the trailer. And a similarly loaded Cherokee following on. Acquired a couple of stand alone Omex ECUs to run it all but then got a factory ECU from one of the works rally cars so they sat unused. Hardly unpacked any of it as my own car was complete, running, legal and trouble free.  Acquired a 2nd(and then 3rd) car to strip down and prep for competition. Loosely fitted the cage and then wandered off to mess around with other vehicles.

Wheels and tyres everywhere at the time - mostly Honda.

Big brake kits for Honda CRX/Civics.  Never used because a Wilwood Group buy beckoned.

Honda CRX JDM only stuff that never got fitted

Many Honda B/D series mechanical parts eg, home brewed turbo set ups. with many spare turbos of course.

May still have a new Alfa GTV stainless system in someone's lock up. definitely got a 3" downpipe, 200 cell sports cat and matching system for an old generation Saab 9-3. And more wheels, never fitted obviously. And some "parts bin" big brake kits for the 9-3

 

Do we count buying cars, driving them home and then just parking up until needed? More than once. Much more than once

[comfortablynumb]

2 minutes ago, Paul Makin said:

Acquired a 2nd(and then 3rd) car to strip down and prep for competition. Loosely fitted the cage and then wandered off to mess around with other vehicles.

This sounds familiar...🤣

[brownnova]

On 01/12/2025 at 07:07, comfortablynumb said:

Oh and I've still got a metric fucktonne of Yugo and zastava parts, NOS, which came to me as part of a job lot.

I've never owned one, not am I likely to.

(Now watch one show up before the end of the week...😁)

Such as….? Any brake callipers for a 45 per chance? 

[comfortablynumb]

Sorry @brownnova, no calipers, mainly gaskets, lights , door handles, I did put a for sale ad up a while ago, but nobody seemed very interested.

 

[dikkehemaworst]

Think i have a lock up full of this 'treasure' 

My fiat 500 'dreambuild' parts, all genuine abarth parts squirreled away, but the car itself became unobtainable expensive in Holland, so ill probably have to sell all the parts to buy decent version of a classic 500 in.the first place....

It's a fortune I've spent on it , the last 20-30 years. Cylinderheads, engines, go faster stuff like cylinders, cams and lifters, oil coolers, aluminium everything (panels ,sumps, multiple  flywheels, cause why would you only need one...) and genuine abarth dash with a zillion spare gauges, cables and extra looms and loads of interiorspecific parts. Could not bare to part with them tho.... 

Dropped spindles for my ( long long gone) VW beetle convertible. Bought them , only to find out ours was on mcphersons ( 'cause america) .

My ' in case shit happens' parts stash for our 'forever' classic car, a Renault Dauphine ondine, wich i sold last year after 25 years of ownership. Bodyparts, exhausts, engineparts , you name it, I've got them stored.. and what the hell was i thinking, needing an exhaust for a car that drove 500 miles a year tops...

bad thing is, since being on here and the blue forum, my interests have shifted, so ill buy interesting  ( shitboxes) cars and actually use them ,instead of classic cars in a garage wich get barely used. Ayone needs an alternator for a 100NX of sunvisors for a Merc w124?

[EspenO]

Bought and never fitted to the BMW Z3 2,8 Coupe I once had:

• Intake manifold for a 330i M54 engine, gives the M52TÜ engine more power at high revs, apparently. Rarely came up for sale back then, never bothered fitting it. Real battle getting it sold again.
• Original Style 40 M Coupe alloys. Decided against them, as the M runs a lot lower offset at the rear and I feared for my pristine wheel arches.
• Set of AC Schnitzer front and rear skirts. Look great, but I’ve got a steep driveway

A tatty front bumper for a facelift BMW E92 3 series coupe. Bought a nice one on eBay, they sent me the tatty one. Complained, and they sent out the correct one.  Could have sold the thing 20 times over if it were for a prefacelift, but nobody bought the later ones.

Once bought 11 (don’t ask) AC Schnitzer typIV wheels, in the hope of getting an usable set out of them. Succeded, kinda. Throwing away the three not even wheel shaped ones, leaves four tatty examples. In three different shades of silver.  Still somewhere in the basement to this day.

 

[delux]

Lol! My years in the trade have left me with loads of 'once expensive but now pretty pointless' tat!

Some gems include...

Massive box of unused Hyundai/Isuzu/Mitsubishi/Nissan/Subaru/Suzuki gaskets and seals including 7xUnused Mitsy L200 cylinder head gaskets

A good but used Mitsy PHEV DCDC converter (think it was about £4000, a bodyshop asked us to fit it. Fitted it, didnt work. Turned out to be a broken wire!) and power tailgate motor (turned out to be tailgate dampers 😄) Sits next to a Nissan Leaf EV PDU (Its fucked but looked like it would have some usable luckies) and a Nissan NV250/Renault Kangoo EV PAC unit (same as Leaf PDU), oh and a Nissan Juke CVT gearbox with a broken chain!

Full, unused Subaru Tribeca automatic transmission (sat in stores for years after customer ordered but never returned. Looked useful, completely pointless)

Hundreds of sensors, light units and control units. Handy for 'Tryagnosis'! Never use any of them!

Tonnes of wiring looms. Handy for reusing plugs and terminals. Again, great idea but never bother!

Having typed that, I think I need to book an intervention and a skip this year! 😄🤪

[comfortablynumb]

1 hour ago, delux said:

Having typed that, I think I need to book an intervention and a skip this year! 

At which point,you will discover that you desperately need at least one of the parts you binned last week.

Ask me how I know... 🤦

[delux]

I really think I have a problem, like a hoarder but with car stuff. 

I worked in a garage a few years ago. It had an old 4 post lift, the cables were worn and when the guy changed them he left the old cables coiled on the floor. Horrible heavy, greasy old steel cables!

But for some reason when I saw them I thought 'They look useful, better keep them incase they come in handy!'

Like an idiot I dragged them from one garage to another for about 5 years before chucking them out. Why? What would I have used them for? To this day I've never thought of a use for some thick manky old steel cables!

(The 10 foot hydraulic ram that was condemned on my ramp at Hyundai a few months ago is stowed away in the oil store, just incase! 😄)

Noticed a few more in the garage to add to my list of shame...

Subaru diesel boxer block (1 bore cracked) gonna be a coffee table...one day....maybe

1 set of 16" Subaru alloys with decent Toyo proxes. Incase I ever want to fit smaller wheels for a Subaru!

Lotus Exige rocker cover (for a Lotus I will never own)

Used but good turbo for later L200 (cos people are falling over themselves for 2nd hand Turbos)

[comfortablynumb]

I kept a Kenwood chef gearbox for about 10 years, before it fell off the shelf one too many times, and I threw it out.

Within a month, my sister gave me a non-working Kenwood chef.

Guess what part it needs?🤬

[Lanciaman]

Done this far too often....   subaru outback / legacy powerflow stainless Y pipe and back boxes in the shed as its already got a full stainless on it, sunroofs, tailgate garnish, roof spoiler for same, umpteen lancia parts over the years.  Still got a full set of the 8.32 specific bronze chrome glass trims, fulvia zagato rear hatch glass. Got over the nonsense these days. 

[chaseracer]

Pretty sure I still have some Citroen XM bits in the garage.  Sold the second XM nineteen years ago...

[Morris 63]

Can relate to all this only too well! 

I've a '98 Impreza Turbo that needs recommissioning "someday soon". I've got it's original 2 pot front brakes, and the 4 pots I bought to replace them, all redundant since I put APs on it. There's a full catalysed exhaust and a spare back box that I bought "just in case" in the garage loft, maybe I'll actually need that one day to get through an MOT since it has a catless 2.5" system on it currently. I bought a full set of used Morette headlights for it - still in the box in the loft. Spare 16" wheels that don't fit over the AP brakes, etc.

Then there's the Mini bits - like 2 full saloon sides, and a full traveller side bought from the AR dealer in Yeovil when they closed, because why not? My mate was here a couple of days back and wandered round the garage/store and said "you could build a new Mini from the parts here"  Not quite, but close. I'm another who'll buy parts when I find them cheap since the prices asked are mental - they're still £200 cars in my old mind.

Luckily, said mate's son has a mk1 Freelander that needs new rear dampers - guess what I had under a table in the garage from my Mrs's one that I unfortunately wrote off a few years back? Dug out a box of new/good condition Freelander parts for his lad that I'd never use - gearstick gaiter, a/r bar bushes, winter wheels (lad just moved to Edinburgh). My Mrs was amazed that I'd actually let some stuff go!  

Not too bad with the Shonky Shogun of Shame, unless the complete cylinder head that came with it, dumped in the boot, counts? Oh, and the spare back door lock and new a/r drop links.  Shame I don't have a spare CV joint for it since that's the latest bit to need replacing!

[comfortablynumb]

26 minutes ago, Morris 63 said:

full traveller side bought from the AR dealer in Yeovil

I actually gave a set of traveller/Countryman door cards, boot board , door panel ends and rear side trim to a guy at Arminghall autojumble when he turned up with a good rolling shell for sale a couple of years ago. I'd tried to sell it and couldn't, it was spares from my mums which had been fully restored, but she sold a few years ago.

It would probably have been worth a few quid to the right person, but I couldn't find them, and in the end I was happy that it was going to live on as a future project for someone, I just couldn't bring myself to chuck it out.

[24vdiamond]

8 hours ago, delux said:

Lol! My years in the trade have left me with loads of 'once expensive but now pretty pointless' tat!

Some gems include...

Massive box of unused Hyundai/Isuzu/Mitsubishi/Nissan/Subaru/Suzuki gaskets and seals including 7xUnused Mitsy L200 cylinder head gaskets

A good but used Mitsy PHEV DCDC converter (think it was about £4000, a bodyshop asked us to fit it. Fitted it, didnt work. Turned out to be a broken wire!) and power tailgate motor (turned out to be tailgate dampers 😄) Sits next to a Nissan Leaf EV PDU (Its fucked but looked like it would have some usable luckies) and a Nissan NV250/Renault Kangoo EV PAC unit (same as Leaf PDU), oh and a Nissan Juke CVT gearbox with a broken chain!

Full, unused Subaru Tribeca automatic transmission (sat in stores for years after customer ordered but never returned. Looked useful, completely pointless)

Hundreds of sensors, light units and control units. Handy for 'Tryagnosis'! Never use any of them!

Tonnes of wiring looms. Handy for reusing plugs and terminals. Again, great idea but never bother!

Having typed that, I think I need to book an intervention and a skip this year! 😄🤪

Might be interested in the isuzu/suzuki bits if you want shot

[delux]

2 hours ago, 24vdiamond said:

Might be interested in the isuzu/suzuki bits if you want shot

Thats the thing, theres still a bit in my head that says they are worth keeping!

Oh, and I'd have to tidy and sort thru stuff and I dont have enough hours in the day as it is.

Oh, and I'm in Gran Canaria until the end of January! 

[Matty]

Ive got enough bits to build near enough a full ZXR750 (in the little cellar under the back room).

4 triumph dolomite seats. 2 BMC b type gearboxes. 2 SU HS4s and 1 HS2. 2 Rover Metro seats. One full set of Rostyles. 1 full Triumph 1500 engine and box. About 20 part worns. (All hidden at work in the old offices). And a nice midly tuned 1098 in the garage that ill never put back in a car but still turn over and put a bit of oil down the bores once in a while.

Uterly fuckin pointless. But could be worse. I could play golf.

[EyesWeldedShut]

Pair of (Polish) ABS branded rear calipers for an early YingTong Musso in pezz flavour.  Rocking horse poo things.
2013- snapped* them up with a 10% voucher ("I'll need these soonest")
2016- scrapped the Musso
2019 - found the calipers, made a half hearted attempt to flog 'em.
2025 - dropped them off at the scrapyard in the annual visit - probably got about £0.50 each for them?

Also dropped off a Musso centre box, Bini R50 hub/bearing assembly and a 'spare' 2.25 Land Rover starter motor (1998 I took that off an engine that was being scrapped - moved house five times and sold the Landy in 2010 FFS)

 

[dome]

On 02/12/2025 at 07:11, sutty2006 said:

When I was recommissioning the Mk1 Carlton I found the thermostat housing rotten and bunged up.
 

It subsequently broke in two after removing it. I needed a new thermostat and top cover, but I was SURE I had a thermostat in the box of spare parts. So I set to trying to find the top cover. These are or were unobtainable, but the part was shared with a lotus Carlton. This is bollocks, because that immediately added OMGLOTUSEXPENSIVERARECARTAX!

 

but nevertheless I was desperate for one so I bought it. On arrival, I dug my way through the spares box looking for the thermostat I thought I had, only to find a genuine top cover still in its GM bag in the box. No thermostat. Now I had two top covers, one free and one costing over 50 quid.

 

 

Surely what you actually have is a NOS Lotus Carlton thermostat top cover and can retire as soon as you sell it on eBay👀

[IronStar]

I have enough Yugo bits at in-laws house to assemble almost two complete cars as a big Lego set, minus the monocoque, including a rare rear louvre that was never mounted. 
OZ Wave 17 in 5x98 that I bought but never used. 
Exhaust shield for Mini that I would mount if the fucking thing would work for 2 fucking minutes. 
Bose subwoofers for both 156 and 159 that I never got around to fitting. I fitted rest of the speakers that shat themselves in the meantime. 
Front bumper with washers for 156. 
Front end for Mazda 626 GE. 
Tempra door cards that I thought would fit 155.

God knows what else 🤣

[comfortablynumb]

I think one of the big issues with hoarding is closely connected to our ability (or not!) to fiddle with old cars.

Like @delux, I've kept things, not because they're necessarily useful to me, or as they are, but because we can see what they could be.

If someone waves a 10' hydraulic ram at me, working or not, it'd be in my workshop before they realised what had happened.

I object to throwing out anything thats still got life in it, for me or someone else, and that's where it starts. I've got a streetlight in my front garden, made from an old wall light, two shelf brackets, two gas bottles of varying sizes and a piece of roadsign pole. Sounds terrible, but welded together, it's very similar to something that would have cost me £200+ from a salvage yard.

I've got multiple ideas iny head for much of the other stuff kicking around here.

Whether it ever actually happens, well.... 🤔

[Metal Guru]

Keeping things that “might come in handy” is NOT the same as hoarding.

Thats what I tell my wife anyway.

[EyesWeldedShut]

You also need to make a BIG THING of actually using such stuff - especially if it's a widget that she has actually commented on in the past decade "What are you keeping that for? It's just taking up room"

This, of course,relies on you choosing the correct widget and the correct time to show off your prowess.  Get it wrong and, boy. it'll be another decade before she'll let you forget Widgetgeddon Day. Ask me how I know (and keep on knowing)  

[comfortablynumb]

Let's face it, you'll be getting it wrong anyway.

If you actually succumb, and throw out said item, and it then transpires that it's something you need, especially for one of 'her' projects ( which you'll be doing anyway), even if she's asked why you're keeping "that piece of rubbish" multiple times, you'll get wrong for having 'Thrown away something you need!'🤣